After fifteen days without a single lead, there’s been a break in the case of the disappearance of 21-year-old Shane Montgomery, an Irish American from Manayunk, Philadelphia.
A surveillance video surfaced yesterday with footage of Shane walking toward a footpath or bridge over the Manayunk Canal, taken from Christie’s Nail Salon next to Kildare’s Pub, the Irish pub where he was last seen leaving.
He was told to leave the bar after stumbling into the DJ table. Pub employees and Shane’s friends say he did not appear intoxicated.
“That footpath opens onto an isolated parking lot on a thin wedge of land that sits between the canal and a steep, unguarded bluff over the Schuylkill [River],” a Philadelphia news source reported.
According to law enforcement officials the footage does not show Shane emerge later from the footpath area over the canal.
A student of West Chester University, the 21-year-old was last seen early on Thanksgiving morning leaving Kildare’s pub at 2am.
He is 5”11 and 140 lbs with short, light brown hair, green eyes, and has a large celtic cross tattooed on his shoulder.
Nail salon owner Christie Tran said investigators came to her store the day after Shane disappeared, looking for surveillance footage from the store's 12 cameras. They’ve only now noticed the figure on the tapes that fits Shane’s description.
Police marine units have searched the Schuylkill River for Shane every day since his disappearance, and investigators have continued to conduct a concentrated search in one area of the river. Search efforts were cut short yesterday due to the weather.
The reward for Shane’s return has increased to $65,000. His photograph is plastered all over Pennsylvania and surrounding areas, and the community has donated, held fundraisers and vigils with strong hopes for Shane’s return.
His mother Karen told Action News yesterday morning that she does not plan to join the search efforts along the river, and that she and her husband are devastated by this new development.
"It's a nightmare I can't wake up from," Karen Montgomery told The Huffington Post. "I'm in despair - not knowing anything and not finding him."
Anyone with information is urged to contact authorities at 215-686-3353/3354.
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